We're at Hoppies Marina.

Inside the Mel Price Lock on the Mississippi River

We had great locking experiences this morning.  We left Alton Marina at 7:10 after talking to the lock master at Mel Price lock.  He told us he could lock us through at 7:30.  And he did!  We were in this huge lock with one other trawler, Journey, from Knoxville.  Then we motored another couple of hours and went straight into the Chain of Rocks Lock.  It was open with the green light flashing.  Woohoo!

At this point we were entering the St. Louis area. It was super busy with barges and tows.  We were lucky to be moving through on a Sunday.

Gateway Arch frames the city.

We arrived at Hoppies Marina around noon. Hoppies is a series of barges tied together and tied into the stone cliff at the town of  Kimmswick, Missouri.  Hoppies is famous to loopers.  It is a must stop on our trip.  We filled up with diesel and then moved around to a spot on the barge.

This is a panoramic view of Hoppies from the top of the cliff.  Aunt Aggie is at the far right end.

We walked into town to have lunch at the Blue Owl Restaurant, which is quite famous for their levee high apple pie. I had fried chicken, and George ordered chicken fried steak. All orders come with mashed potatoes. We also got green beans and salad.  Sadly, we were too full to order the pie.  There was more to town than we had expected:  lots of shops for tourists; several streets full of charm.  On the way we passed the Anheuser Farm with well tended horses.

There were seven horses in various fields. 

 This display sits outside the restaurant, celebrating their 30th year in business.

After the rich lunch, we returned to Aunt Aggie and greeted more arriving loopers. We also took showers, naps, and read.  Around 5:00 pm all the loopers met with Fern, the dock master, for her chart talk.  Fern tells the boaters where to anchor on the Mississippi River below Hoppies.  She has been doing this for many years.  Hoppie is in the hospital today, and Fern had been there with him, so we thought we were not going to meet her.  But she came to the dock and gave us advice and answered questions. She is a treasure.  Everyone took photos of Fern.  After her talk, we sat around and discussed our plans for tomorrow.

Fern (on the right) with a fan.

We will be anchoring out for the next three nights, moving down the Mississippi, the Ohio and onto the Cumberland River. We are traveling with Lee Loo, a boat we met last week. We may not have internet coverage or cell coverage.  So do not worry.  We will make notes and share the highlights once we arrive at Green Turtle Bay on the Cumberland River. We plan to be at Green Turtle Bay by Thursday.